Ohio Supreme Court to hear MetroParks suit

COLUMBUS -- The continuing legal fight about Erie MetroParks' Huron River Greenway will land again in Ohio's top court.

The Ohio Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in a case that followed another Supreme Court decision from two years ago.

Twenty neighboring land owners are asking the court to order Erie MetroParks to begin the court proceedings necessary to take their land for the recreational trail between Huron and Milan.

The Huron River Greenway, a proposed trail running about seven miles roughly parallel to the Huron River, has sparked years of legal fighting between the park district and adjacent property owners. Each claim ownership or right to use the former railroad right-of-way that could become a trail.

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In November 2007, the Ohio Supreme Court ordered Erie MetroParks to cease violating landowners' rights by refusing to pay just compensation for seized land, said the neighbors' attorney, Bruce Ingram of Columbus.

That ruling dealt with Greenway neighbors Mick and Lisa Coles, who long have argued the adjacent property owners, not the park district, purchased the railroad right-of-way when the railroad abandoned that rail line.

In today's case, the 20 property owners claim they are "identically situated" to the Coleses and thus are seeking to have Erie MetroParks pay for private property it took, Ingram said previously.

The park district's attorneys are arguing the legal situation with the 20 landowners is different from the Coleses, Erie MetroParks Executive Director Steve Dice said.

"We are appreciative that the Supreme Court has allowed oral arguments, and we feel that whatever decision is made will be made on every opportunity to provide information," Dice said.

Meanwhile, Erie MetroParks already has filed appropriation cases at Erie County Common Pleas Court seeking five easements, totaling about 5.82 acres, from the Coleses, Isolated Ventures Ltd., Milan Mayor Bob Bickley and Warren R. Jones. The "offer letters" suggest "just compensation" for the five easements would range from $1,100 to $5,650.